Frank van Hattum. Photo / Brett Phibbs
New Zealand Football chairman Frank van Hattum is calling for more transparency and objectivity in Fifa's voting process after tagging yesterday's 2018 and 2022 World Cup decisions "unbelievable".
Like many, van Hattum struggled with the awarding of hosting rights to Russia and Qatar.
"Most of us were realistic enough to
know Australia wouldn't get the votes to win," said van Hattum. "But we just don't know what Qatar offered. They're going to build nine beautiful stadiums, but we keep defaulting to something which suggests something dodgy in their bid - but it's only rumour and innuendo.
"It would have been great to have a World Cup downunder but that's not going to happen any time soon. I think Fifa has to be more objective in their decision making. They need to put a rating system in place and mark prospective host countries on everything from stadiums to weather, hotels, transport, infrastructure and a host of other things.
"You can only think there must have been one hell of a deal done. The way things are done now, you know who's voting for you. Qatar clearly did. Seeing delegates hugging each other before the results are known is not a good look."
Van Hattum is also surprised the countries who fared worst after Fifa inspections and technical reports were in the end victorious.
Given that Qatar is no bigger than Auckland, it promises to be a massive logistical exercise to accommodate the huge influx of fans and the problems that will bring.
